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Arlington Heights, Chicago, Naperville, Waukegan and Aurora have all make their case tot he Bears. The team's lease at Soldier Field runs through the 2033 season, which means they have a home for at least the next 11 seasons. However, they can break the lease as soon as 2026.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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to be clear: the self-interested rulers empowered to create massive public debt and enormous tax liabilities for their captives communities are ‘battling to be the next home of…Bears”.
If people who live in these communities, who will be forced to shoulder the tax burdens and public debt and property devaluation that comes with TIF were ‘quoted’ by ‘respected media’, the headline might be different.
Does the NFL put restrictions on how far from Chicago the Chicago Bears can be located? Could the Bears relocate to NW Indiana or even southern WI or would the NFL prevent such a move?
I believe the NY Giants are actually in New Jersey, and the Packers aren’t in Green Bay, they are in Ashwaubenon.
Hmm, the Baltimore Colts relocated to central Indiana…..
In the middle of the night too!
None of those alternate sites work. Aurora– home to “Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar”? Who? Plus Aurora is half way to the Rocky Mountains and impossible to get to from the north suburbs so scratch that idea. Waukegan and Naperville are just like AH– not the right infrastructure and no money to pay for the billions it would take to make the necessary improvements. And no one wants to focus on the interest rate environment. When interest rates popped up 4 points in the last 15 months, the cost of $1 billion debt just went up by $40 million/year. Who… Read more »
I’ll take the the under on this, they’ll be in Arl. Hts well before 2040. They can complain about the real estate tax bill, but in the end, they’ll just raise ticket and parking lot prices and pass the costs onto fans. I just looked and it’s almost $70 to park at McCormick Place for a Bears game, and goes down to $30 when you’re parked miles away. Arl. Hts doesn’t have a parking garage tax like Chicago does, where most of the cost of parking is tax, so it’s pure profit even at $10 or $15 a car. There’s… Read more »
The opportunity to host the Superbowl, NCAA tournaments, concerts, even special Big 10 games, all in an indoor venue, is just too great, especially if nestled in an entertainment district on several hundred acres of land. The northwest side of the Chicago metropolian region, IIRC, is one of the few bright spots in the Chicago region that has gained population (along with downtown, pre-covid), while the rest of the region loses population. The center of gravity in the region moving from downtown back to the suburbs, just like it did in the 1960’s and 70’s, and returned to the city… Read more »
I wish you were correct because I don’t like Soldier Field either. But those revenue streams are not material for the bottom line at an 80,000 seat facility. The economics are much different than for an arena. Superbowl? They would be lucky to get it once every 20 years, fans like a warm climate in winter time, and most of the revenue goes to the NFL, not the home team. Concerts? There are only two or three performers at most who can fill a big venue like a football stadium. Most go to the arenas with 20-25,000 seats because they… Read more »
I don’t know the Bears’s balance sheet but I would imagine they are sitting on $$$$$ after 100 years. My understanding is that there are major estate planning problems when the old lady dies because the estate taxes are so great. I heard that they want to load up on debt to off-set the value of the assets for taxation purposes, so it’s better to load up on debt. This is all rumors though. At the end of they day, the Bears need a new stadium, and now is the time to do it. Something’s going to happen, one way… Read more »